Memorial Day weekend slurps???

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POk3s

POk3s

Escalante-Class Member
Hey guys. I was a long time lurker and finally went on my first fishing trip to lake Powell in late April last year. I was diligent in keeping up with the reports and thought I would be able to figure it out quick. That was not the case. My girlfriend and I picked up a few stripers, a Walleye, and some smallies in 2 partial days and 1 full day of fishing.

After that trip we had the grand idea to rent a houseboat, invite some family, and make quite the memorial weekend of it. Obviously those plans that were made this winter were a little touch and go for a while during all this craziness. It now looks like perfect timing!

Anyway, back to the fishing stuff! As I’m trying to get prepared, it seems possible that the water will warm enough for there to be slurps during memorial day weekend. It looks like this starts to take place in early June most years but I’m hopeful I’ll be able to find some surface Striper activity looking at how the temps are going to be HOT. Am I out of bounds here? Regardless of what patterns are taking place it will be great to get back down there and try and learn the ropes. If nothing else I’m confident in catching more than enough smallmouth to make it quite the weekend!

Cheers,
Trent
 
Concentrate on smallmouth but stay ready for slurps - usually in the back of the canyon near driftwood or brush. Stripers will attack those thin lines of shad and be visible as they feed on the surface. It may happen on the holiday weekend but later is more likely. Just have a rod ready with a small topwater or shallow runner when slurps pop up.
 
wayne gustaveson said:
Concentrate on smallmouth but stay ready for slurps - usually in the back of the canyon near driftwood or brush. Stripers will attack those thin lines of shad and be visible as they feed on the surface. It may happen on the holiday weekend but later is more likely. Just have a rod ready with a small topwater or shallow runner when slurps pop up.
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2 or 3 inch white curl tail grub plopped in the midst of a slurp works, too. At least it did last June 10th. Matched the hatch, so to speak. Braided line helps get that light lure out there far enough to avoid spooking them (sometimes). That’s the hardest part. Also had a few bent hooks from such a small jig head.
 
This time of the year the best luck I have had looking for slurps is to trolling motor way back into a canyon and wait. Silent. For at least ten minutes. I think many backs of canyons have stripers trolling the surface but boats scare them and when you are moving you don’t hear them. Now to be honest I figured this out one time after looking for them for most of the day seeing nothing and deciding to stop looking and admit to failure. 10 minutes of discussion and twenty of them swam by the boat. You don’t have to hit me in the head more than twice... been my early season strategy ever since. Usually it involves casting to small mouth and keeping eyes and ears open while waiting as Wayne said. That’s the experience part kicking in. They are there.

TR
 
Thank you guys for the replies!

TR- I usually have to be hit in the head three or four times, but I’ll definitely deploy the tactic!
 
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